It was a distinct shift from his "common ground" rhetoric of recent weeks, in which he took a conciliatory stance toward the Republican majority in Congress, and could presage the tack that Clinton will take in the 1996 presidential campaign.

Some Democratic Party officials have urged him to be more confrontational in dealing with the GOP majority, but Clinton has resisted openly declaring political war.

"I wish he would do it more," said Donald Fowler, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, when told that Clinton had taken the GOP to task at a news conference for weakening environmental laws.

Fowler said that the president "is a very studied guy" who is most effective at pounding the table when he feels strongly on a particular issue, like the environment.

White House press secretary Michael McCurry said the president's remarks were not part of any general strategy for lambasting Congress during a critical summer and fall of legislative activity.

There is still a budget to write and key legislation to enact that will require negotiation and compromise, officials said.

But what Republicans saw on display was a more animated, judgmental president willing to paint them negatively in blunt terms.

As the election draws closer and the GOP defies him on many other issues, administration officials said the president's common-ground rhetoric is likely to give way to such partisan criticism.

Noting the House's decision Monday night to reverse itself and approve legislation weakening enforcement of environmental laws, Clinton said, "Looking over the last few days, it is clear that this Congress is on the wrong track."

He called the vote "a stealth attack on our environment in the guise of a budget bill" and added, "This is Washington special-interest politics at its most effective and at its worst."

The president said that as soon as this "Polluters Protection Act hits my desk, I will veto it."

President Harry Truman in the 1948 election criticized a "do-nothing Congress" and that, along with a shaky economy, helped him win. Clinton, on the other hand, will be in the position of criticizing a Congress that has a clear record, but one with which he sharply disagrees.

Clinton went one step further, accusing Congress of taking care of its own interests before the public interest. He said that "right on schedule," Congress approved a bill funding its staff and operations. He said he would veto that, too, if Congress sends it to him before it approves a budget.

But he said he hoped that he could reach agreement on the budget and on welfare reform. He praised Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) for proposing a welfare reform bill that may offer grounds for compromise.

The president's common-ground theme emerged from strategy sessions with Republican consultant Dick Morris, a former political associate of Clinton's in Arkansas whom the president tapped to advise him.